With an aging population that’s already the world’s oldest, Japan might be a good place to build more hospitals. Instead, it’s shutting them down. More than 300 medical institutions closed or became inactive in the year ended March, the most on record in figures going back to 2006, according to corporate research firm Teikoku Databank Ltd. Almost three-quarters of clinics are losing money, a survey by the Japan Hospital Federation shows, and the government is cutting payouts to institutions due to budgetary constraints even as costs remain high, Bloomberg reported. “The sector is getting lean,” said Yuji Inokuchi, 59, who runs a hospital in Tokyo.
